Pet Therapy
by Lokiismylife
Summary: Taruto finds Ichigo in kitten form and brings her to Kisshu as a pet, not knowing it's her. The story's better than this awful summary, so please R&R!


**Pet Therapy**

Taruto watched Kisshu lock himself in his room gloomily, and then got an idea. He teleported to Pai's lab and began banging on the door loudly. Five minutes later, he heard, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?"

Taruto opened the door, and said, "I've got an idea about how to cheer Kisshu up."

Pai groaned and asked, "Why are you telling ME this?"

"I think we should get Kisshu a pet!" Taruto said. "Don't most people turn to animals for comfort when they're unhappy?"

"What kind of pet?" Pai asked warily.

"A little black kitten," Taruto said. "Kisshu likes kittens."

"Is that why there's a litter box in his room?" Pai asked.

"Yeah, I think he wants a kitten," Taruto said.

Pai sighed. "Fine… you can get Kisshu a kitten…." he said. "Try not to create chaos."

"Oh, fine," Taruto said, and teleported off.

Landing in a park, he realized he was close to the Mews' base, and was about to teleport off when he heard scared mewing. Looking around, he saw a small black kitten backing away from… _Blondie? _he thought. _I wonder why he's scaring that kitten. Oh well, I'll just rescue the kitten and give her to Kisshu! _

He took out his click-clack weapon, and threw it, tying Ryou up. Flying over, he ignored Ryou, and gently picked up the scared kitten, noticing she had a bell tied around her neck. Taruto gently untied the ribbon supporting the bell, and the kitten mewed sadly. "I was going to get you a green ribbon," Taruto told her. "Uh… you're a girl kitten, right?"

"Nya," the kitten said. It sounded like she was confirming something, so Taruto assumed she was a girl. He noticed then that her eyes were hot pink. "I've never seen a kitten with hot pink eyes," he told her. "Was Blondie experimenting on you, and that's why you're scared of him?"

The kitten mewed sadly, and Taruto said, "Let's go find you a new ribbon." He teleported to Pai's lab again, and as Pai looked up, Taruto asked, "Do you have any green ribbons?"

"Maybe…" Pai said. "Wait here." He teleported off, and returned a few minutes later with a dark green ribbon. He came over to Taruto, and said, "Hold the kitten still."

Taruto obeyed as Pai gently tied a bow around the kitten's neck. The kitten mewed softly when he was done, and Taruto smiled. "Let's go show Kisshu!" he said.

"Nya?" the kitten asked.

"I got you as a present for my brother; he's been really sad lately, and I thought having a pet would cheer him up," Taruto said.

"Nya," the kitten said, and settled down in Taruto's arms. Taruto smiled and teleported to Kisshu's door, then knocked. "Yeah?" Kisshu asked gloomily.

"Kisshu, I got you a present!" Taruto said.

Kisshu opened the door a minute later, and Taruto held out the kitten. "I got you a kitten!" he said proudly.

Kisshu gently took the kitten from Taruto, cuddling her. She purred and relaxed in his arms. "Thanks, Taruto," Kisshu said. "Where'd you find her?"

"She was trying to get away from Blondie," Taruto said. "I bet he was experimenting on kittens. That guy is so evil."

"You're sure she's not Ichigo?" Kisshu asked.

"Don't you think she's acting too nice to be Ichigo?" Taruto asked. "She didn't even hiss at me when I picked her up, and Ichigo hates me. Not to mention she looks pretty content with you holding her."

"I guess you're right," Kisshu said. "Where'd you get the ribbon?"

"Pai had one," Taruto replied. "We decided we'd try to cheer you up."

"Wow, thanks," Kisshu said happily. "Does the kitten have a name?"

"Not yet," Taruto replied.

"I think I'll call her Strawberry," Kisshu said. "I'm going to take her to get settled in, okay?"

"Okay," Taruto said. "What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Breakfast for dinner," Kisshu said. "Come get me in a while, 'kay?"

"Okay!" Taruto said, and teleported off. Kisshu took Strawberry back to his room, shutting the door before gently setting her down on the bed. She looked up at him, and he sat down next to her. She climbed into his lap, and settled down, purring. He gently petted her as he said, "I think it'll be nice to have someone to talk to who won't laugh off what I have to say or ignore me."

"Mew?" Strawberry asked.

"It just feels like no one cares about me anymore," Kisshu said softly. "Except Taruto, apparently- but he's busy with his relationship with Mew Pudding, and I don't really want to bug him. He's lucky, though. I wish Ichigo loved me like that, but she hates me. I love her with everything I have, and I just want to keep her safe, but all she cares about is her stupid treehugging boyfriend. I sometimes wonder if he's brainwashing her into being in love with him; he's sickening. But every time I say that, Ichigo blows up at me. I bet he IS brainwashing her; there's no way she'd fall for someone like that without being brainwashed. But on the off chance that I'm wrong, if I kill him, she'll be sad. I don't like it when she's sad; it makes me feel sad too. I can handle her when she's angry or any other emotion, but I just can't bear seeing her sad or crying."

Strawberry mewed softly, and Kisshu sighed. "I wonder if she knows how much she's hurting me," he said. "I always laugh it off, but her rejections just kill me inside. And I'm not good at sharing my feelings with people. Apparently cats are a different matter, but I'd have trouble saying all this to Ichigo. Not to mention she'd probably start yelling at me before I could tell her."

Strawberry mewed sadly, and Kisshu looked at her. "Did I make you sad too?" he asked. Strawberry rubbed him, and he smiled, petting her gently. "You like being petted, huh?" he asked. Strawberry purred happily, snuggling against him. Kisshu picked her up and gently cuddled her.

_**Strawberry's POV: **__Well, at least they haven't figured out that I really AM Ichigo. I'm so glad I destroyed Ryou's portal machine; they won't be able to come after me. Maybe I'll just live here as Kisshu's pet; I bet it would be comforting for him, and it seems like at least he and Taruto will be gentle with me. It's better than going back and getting brainwashed by Blondie- or have him nagging me about being 'his'. I don't get why he thinks I dumped Aoyama for him; the only reason I dumped Aoyama was because he was cheating on me. I think living with Kisshu and his brothers would be a nice change._

_**-End POV-**_

Ichigo was brought out of thought by knocking on the door, and Kisshu calling, "Come in!"

Pai opened the door, and asked, "Can you make dinner soon?"

"Sure," Kisshu said. "I think it'll be nice having a pet."

"Just make sure she stays out of my lab," Pai said.

"I will," Kisshu said. "I'll go make dinner." He picked up Ichigo, and teleported to the kitchen.

When they landed, Kisshu set Ichigo down on the table, and said, "Stay there, I'll get you some milk."

Ichigo purred, and Kisshu smiled as he found some milk and poured some into a bowl. Then he set in in front of Ichigo, who rubbed his hand affectionately before starting to lap up the milk. Kisshu went to start dinner for himself, Pai, and Taruto.

Fifteen minutes later, he had a pile of chocolate chip pancakes and a plate of bacon, and he called Pai and Taruto telepathically. They teleported in soon after, and Kisshu set out the pancakes and bacon. Ichigo had finished her milk, and was curled up on the table, napping. The Cyniclons started dinner, and Taruto was, as usual, eating like a pig. "Taruto, I'm going to take that away if you don't start eating like a Cyniclon," Kisshu said. "You're eating like an animal."

Taruto glared at him, but started eating more slowly. "You're on dishes, too," Kisshu informed him.

"Can I come play with Strawberry after I'm done?" Taruto asked.

"Sure, but you have to finish first," Kisshu said.

"I know," Taruto said.

As they were finishing, however, a loud alarm went off, and Pai sighed. "Probably Blondie," he said. "I wonder what he thinks we did now?"

"Let's find out," Kisshu said. He teleported to the main room, followed by Pai and Taruto. Ichigo was left to her own devices, having woken up when the alarm went off. She was contemplating following them, but then noticed there was some leftover bacon, and decided she'd rather eat that than go see who was in the main room.

_**Meanwhile, in the main room: **_Kisshu, Pai and Taruto found Ryou in the main room, and Kisshu said, "You must be insane, coming here alone."

"I came to get Ichigo back," Ryou said.

"We don't have Ichigo," Kisshu said. "If that was your only reason for coming, you're wasting your time. Besides, what makes you think she'd want to come back? From what I've seen, you treat her like dirt. Why would she want to go back to that?"

"Because she's got a crush on me," Ryou said.

"You're delusional," Pai said. "Even I can tell that she hates your guts. Are you getting off our ship, or do we need to force you?"

"I'm not going anywhere till you hand Ichigo over," Ryou snarled.

Kisshu snapped his fingers, and Ryou disappeared. Where he had been standing, there was a projector-like machine. "I guess that's how he got here," Pai said. "I think I'll go dissect it."

"Have fun, I'm taking Strawberry back to my room," Kisshu said. He went back to the kitchen, and found Ichigo nibbling on the remainder of the bacon. Sighing, he picked her up, and said, "That's not cat food, Strawberry."

Ichigo mewed sadly. Kisshu sighed again and teleported her to his room. He set her down on the bed, and sat down with her. She climbed into his lap, and looked at him expectantly. Smiling, he petted her.

Taruto teleported in a while later, and said, "I brought some cat toys for Strawberry."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. "Should we see if she likes them?"

"Yeah!" Taruto said happily. He took out a catnip mouse, a ball that jingled, and some string. He and Kisshu sat down on the floor with Ichigo, and Kisshu rolled the ball towards her. Her eyes went wide, and she pounced. The ball skidded away, and she scampered after it. The boys watched her bat it around, and Taruto said, "We should have gotten a kitten earlier; this is FUN!"

"I agree," Kisshu said.

"So why do you think Blondie thought we had Ichigo?" Taruto asked.

"Probably because she's gone missing and he's trying to take the blame off himself," Kisshu said. "Though why he came here alone is beyond me. Taking him down would be so easy without the Mews around."

"Why didn't you, then?" Taruto asked.

"I think I'll wait; if we kill him when he hasn't done anything to us, it'll make us seem like the bad guys," Kisshu said.

"And that would be bad for your truce plan, right?" Taruto asked.

"Yup," Kisshu replied. "I think Strawberry tired herself out."

Taruto looked, and saw Ichigo sleeping. "That's cute," he said.

They heard knocking on the door, and Kisshu called, "Come in!"

Pai came in and said, "Bedtime for both of you, it's after ten."

Kisshu and Taruto sighed, and Taruto teleported back to his room as Pai left. Kisshu sighed, then stripped off his shirt, and put on pajama pants after taking his shorts off. Then he climbed into bed. To his surprise, Ichigo jumped onto the bed and curled up next to his pillow. She was asleep immediately, and Kisshu sighed, then settled down, and fell asleep slowly.

_**The next morning: **_Kisshu was up at 6:30, and he got his clothes on, then went to train, leaving his door open.

Ichigo woke up about half an hour later, and finding Kisshu gone and the door open, she decided she'd explore a bit.

Wandering through the halls, she realized that this ship was huge. Eventually she found Taruto's room, but he wasn't in there. Continuing on down the hall, she found the kitchen, and a locked room that she assumed was Pai's, considering the 'Come in and DIE' sign on it. She found another door with the same sign, and considering it had a keypad for a lock, she figured it was Pai's lab. Finally she came to the end of the hall, and found a door that was slightly open. Peering in, she saw that Kisshu was in there, and he was fighting a Chimera Anima. What amazed her was the power and speed with which he was fighting; she'd never seen him do that with her. _All this time, he's been holding back, _she thought. _If he had fought me like that, I would be dead right now. He must really love me if he holds back all the time. All this time, I couldn't be sure that Kisshu loved me; the toy comments and teasing were confusing me, and I was blinded by my crush on Aoyama. But seeing how much Kisshu must be holding back, and hearing him talk about how much he loves me, I think I should at least give him a chance. Ever since I caught Aoyama screwing that poor tree, Kisshu's been on my mind almost all the time. I guess I should have realized that that meant something._

She broke out of thought as the door opened, and Kisshu came out. "Hi Strawberry, did you have fun exploring?" he asked.

"Nya!" Ichigo said happily. Suddenly her body started to tingle, and she froze, knowing what that meant. She felt herself start to change, and then she was surrounded by smoke. With a loud POP, she returned to normal, and stood up as the smoke cleared. Then she looked at Kisshu, who looked shell-shocked. "Ichigo?" he whispered.

"Uh… hi," Ichigo said nervously.

Kisshu's mouth moved soundlessly- and then he passed out. Ichigo caught him before he hit the floor, and gently set him down, kneeling next to him and putting his head in her lap. She felt his forehead, then bit her lip, worried. Kisshu had a fever.

Remembering she could use telepathy while in human form, she called telepathically, _Pai!_

_What do YOU want? _Pai asked.

_Long story short, I just turned back from being a kitten, and I think Kisshu went into shock from that, _Ichigo said. _And I'm not exactly sure how to get back to his room._

_Coming… _Pai sighed, and cut the connection. A minute later, he appeared in the hallway, and said, "After I heal Kisshu, you WILL be explaining this."

"I know," Ichigo said. She watched as Pai put a hand on Kisshu's chest, and started healing him.

Ten minutes later, he said, "Kisshu will be fine; he just needs to sleep off the healing. Let's talk while he's sleeping." He picked up Kisshu and said, "Grab my shoulder."

Ichigo obeyed, and Pai teleported them to Kisshu's room, where he tucked Kisshu into his bed. Then he motioned to Ichigo, who followed him out of the room. "So what's the story?" Pai asked.

"Ryou decided since I dumped Aoyama, I had to be 'his'," Ichigo said. "I refused, and he turned me into a kitten, then took the tail ribbon I had away, because it had my pendant on it. I ran for it, but he followed me, and he was just about to catch me when Taruto came and tied him up, then brought me back here. I guess I was pretty lucky Taruto was out searching for kittens."

"Do you love Kisshu, or was being nice just so you could stay and not get found out?" Pai asked.

"I love Kisshu, but I was confused about his feelings," Ichigo said. "When I realized that he really does love me, I decided to give him a chance, but by then I was a kitten. And I caught Aoyama screwing a tree, so that went down the tubes."

"Why were you confused?" Pai asked.

"The toy comments," Ichigo replied. "I was confused because one minute Kisshu would be saying he loves me, then he'd say I was his toy, and then he'd be trying to kill me. That was confusing."

Pai sighed. "I warned him about the toy comments," he said. "Let's go check on him, and you can tell him what happened."

Ichigo nodded, and they went back into Kisshu's room. Kisshu was waking up, and he turned his head in their direction. "What happened?" he asked. "And why is Ichigo here?"

"I was the kitten," Ichigo replied. "Ryou decided I was going to be 'his', but I refused, and he turned me into a kitten. I ran away, and if it wasn't for Taruto bringing me to you, I'd probably be stuck in a cage or something right now."

"Do you love me?" Kisshu asked.

"Yes, I do," Ichigo replied. "I'm sorry it took me so long to figure that out."

"And the treehugger?" Kisshu asked.

"I found out he does a bit more than just hug trees, so I dumped him for being a psycho creep," Ichigo said. "That was NOT pretty. How are you feeling? You collapsed with a fever when I turned back into a human."

Kisshu sat up, but then sank back. "My head is spinning," he said.

Pai went over and put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. "I'll heal the dizziness, but I think you need to take it easy till at least tomorrow," he said.

Kisshu sighed and settled back down. Pai started healing the dizziness, and Kisshu fell back to sleep. Pai finished a few minutes later, and looked at Ichigo, then said telepathically, _Stay with him, and when he wakes up, tell him he can't get up till tomorrow morning. He just needs to rest for a while, and then he should be back to normal._

_Okay, _Ichigo said. She climbed onto the bed with Kisshu, and gently stroked his hair as Pai left. Kisshu leaned into her hand, sighing happily, and she smiled softly.

**Semi-long….. I hope you all like this. I thought it would be fun to have another kitten story. Review?**


End file.
